Hawks' Toews still hopeful for Thursday return

Jonathan Toews remains hopeful to return to the Chicago Blackhawks lineup Thursday. There just isn't any guarantee yet that he will.

The Hawks captain practiced yet again Tuesday but stopped short of promising anything for the upcoming Wild game -- other than likely taking all the time he can before deciding.

"I hope so," Toews said, when asked if he would play Thursday. "I haven't made that decision for Thursday yet. We have another full day before that and another practice with the guys. We'll see how that goes and come Thursday, I think we'll make a decision.

"It's tough to say. It's tough to really know 110 percent if the time is right to go back in and play. You just have to have a gut instinct that it feels right, that it's time to play. Today was a good day. Hopefully tomorrow is the same way. We'll see."

Toews has missed 20 games in a recovery from a concussion but both he and Hawks coach Joel Quenneville would prefer the captain get some game action in before the playoffs begin next week.

"The pace of play, especially in that first round -- you compare the first round to any other round, it's probably tougher," Toews said. "It doesn't matter who you get, teams are ready to play, they're excited. That pace of play is so much higher than what you're used to in the regular season. If I could have been playing in any games so far, I would be. I'll take what I can get at this point."

Said Quenneville: "You don’t want to have to try to catch up to the pace of a playoff game when you haven't been in there for a while. That's why when you're ready, you have to be ready. Hopefully he can get his feet wet here, but we're not assured of that."